NPN on Twitter

NPN Visitors

Monday, December 31, 2012

In last year's look back at 2011 I wrote how there was so much to look forward in 2012, so much in fact that it made it pretty easy to say goodbye to '11. Now that that exciting year will come to an end at the stroke of midnight tonight, I thought we could take a look back at it. A full year for the theme park industry to say the least, we'll just be looking at some of the highlights from each month. Time warp - let's go!

Technically Legoland Florida opened in 2011, but I'd be remiss if I did not make mention of its spectacular performance in 2012. Between their first full year of operation, and the reopening of the water park, and the announcement of more new stuff - things appear to have gone quite well for the park. Scott & Carol posted their coverage of the property in January, introducing our readers to the park in detail. The month also marked the first day of work for Matt Ouimet as Cedar Fair's CEO - a seemingly small thing that will speak volumes over the next few years.

I'm sorry February, but you're a cold and ugly month. Still, some things that happened during this month in 2012 had ride fans drooling on their keyboards. Both Shambhala at PortAventura and Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland reached construction milestones, the former reached its high point and the latter completed its track. A bright spot appeared on the future of Kentucky Kingdom when it was announced that the Koch family planned to reopen it as Bluegrass Boardwalk. The plans fell through later in the year, but it was quite a development at the time.

It was still quite early in the year, but March brought the first round of new ride openings. Scott and Carol were at Dollywood to cover the opening of Wild Eagle, the park's anticipated wing coaster from B&M. Across the pond, two other large rides opened to passengers for the first time as well: the stellar looking Wodan at Europa Park and The Swarm, another B&M wing coaster, at Thorpe Park.

Busy, busy, busy - lots of ride openings were the focus in April here on NPN, with a busy schedule of covering them all. Everyone was waiting to see how Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Verbolten turned out, and Scott and Carol were there to tell us when the ride opened. Later in the month they headed up North to take a spin on B&M's tallest coaster - ever - which also happens to be over 300 feet tall. Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland is a monster both literally and figuratively, as the duo reported. Later in the month I checked out Dorney Park's pair of new offerings, Stinger and Dinosaurs Alive!

Who doesn't love a good surprise? May started out with one from Cedar Point, that Wildcat would be removed in favor of additional seating for Luminosity. It's amazing looking back at just how many ride openings Scott & Carol hit this year, as May also saw X-Flight's premier at Six Flags Great America. It is not often that we write about a whole new park opening in the U.S., but that's exactly what we were able to do when Galveston Pleasure Pier opened in May. The seaside amusement park in Texas combines classic rides with modern thrills.

One coaster was really the talk of the town in 2012, and we finally got to check out Skyrush at Hersheypark in June. For any fan of intense rides, Skyrush provides some of the most extreme ejector airtime I've felt. The Summer also really picked up with new attractions opening on the West coast, and Kevin was there to share the developments with us. Two big theme parks offered two big new attractions: the entire new Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, and Transformers at Universal Studios Hollywood. The next big opening was Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, a unique launched coaster that sits on a small space but packs a big punch.

In between celebrating the country's birthday, NPN also was at the celebration of Six Flags Over Georgia's 45th anniversary in July. The Summer also marked the 20th anniversary of Dorney Park's ownership by Cedar Fair, which I covered in some seriously lengthy detail for you all. The (warm) winds of change started to blow as well, with the news that Fiesta Texas' Rattler, Disaster Transport and Space Spiral at Cedar Point, and Kings Island's Son of Beast would be turned to dust. I set off on one of my coaster-seeking road trips, and documented my trip via several updates.

August was a rather big month for announcing things, both what is coming this year and also what won't be around any more. Additional items that would be retired included Flashback and the Texas Chute Out at Six Flags Over Texas, and Perilous Plunge at Knott's Berry Farm. Those may have been bummers, but they were quickly overshadowed by some mega-announcements. Cedar Point unveiled GateKeeper, Silver Dollar City took the wraps off of Outlaw Run, California's Great America gave the details of Gold Striker, and Six Flags revealed more new stuff than you can shake a stick at for all their parks.

Don't tell the parks that Halloween actually takes place in October, not September. While it was a little early, NPN was out covering several Halloween events in September, including the Haunt at Worlds of Fun and Fright Fest at Six Flags Great Adventure. We also launched a new series on NPN, the Vault, showcasing some of the older stuff we have laying around. New announcements continued during September as well, including news from Kings Dominion, Wild Adventures, and Darien Lake.

The screams of the recently departed continued into October, with plenty more in-park coverage of hauntings across the country. Scott & Carol got into the swing of things with the Haunt at Kings Island, the Phantom Fright Nights at Kennywood, and Six Flags Great America's Fright Fest. All those scares, I'm glad they survived! Dorney Park celebrated their fifth anniversary of Haunt with another year of screams. Everyone got a bit of a wicked treat when they got to check out the deconstruction of Son of Beast, for it is not every day we get to see a ride of this size come down.

The month of November is a big one for our industry, that's when the annual IAAPA trade show takes place. A series of updates from Scott and Carol kept us in the loop on all the news. Some of the special announcements included the unveiling of Outlaw Run's cars, and the addition of an inversion on Mt. Olympus' Hades. Several otherupdatesincluded plenty of hidden gems that all show off the latest and greatest the amusement industry has to offer. And as if all that wasn't enough, a brand new water park, Aquatica San Diego, was announced!

Finally, the current month we are saying farewell to, December. One of the largest news items so far has been the opening of New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. Filled with new rides, shows, and restaurants, the new area has created quite a buzz for its level of theming and attention to detail. It is also fitting that as the year rolls to an end we take a look at what 2013 has in store with stories like an update of the well underway GateKeeper at Cedar Point and a brand new addition to Miniland at Legoland Florida.

So that's 2012 according to NewsPlusNotes, at least a condensed version of the 558 posts that were written this year. Thanks to all our readers for stopping by, we certainly look forward to checking out all that 2013 has to offer with you guys! Happy New Year!

0
comments:

About NewsPlusNotes

NewsPlusNotes is a blog dedicated to the coverage of the amusement
industry. Our content runs the gamut from major industry headlines
to exclusive reports and items of historical significance. NewsPlusNotes
was founded in 2006, when Mike made the pivotal decision to share his
love of the industry with the world. Since then, what started out as
one enthusiast's hobby has grown to become one of the most widely known
and frequently updated sources of industry information. NewsPlusNotes--or
"NPN", as it is called by fans--now serves up content and commentary to
a global audience which continues to grow on a near daily basis, and its
reach has expanded to Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

NPN remained a solo effort until October 2008, when Mike welcomed three
new full-time contributors (Sabrina, Scott, and Carol) to the blog and the
"NPN team" was officially born. The team was again expanded in March of 2011 Kevin joined as a writer. Simply stated, we are a group of writers
who love the industry and it is our honor and privilege to share that
passion with our loyal readers and fellow enthusiasts. In so doing, we
strive to promote the enjoyment, celebration, and preservation of the
industry. We hope you enjoy our blog and welcome your feedback!

NewsPlusNotes is not affiliated with nor do we purport to
represent the views, interests, intentions, or policies of any
park, corporation, or entity. All original content found on
NewsPlusNotes, including but not limited to all original written
content, the NewsPlusNotes logo and all other static graphic and
web design elements comprising the site, and all photos from
NewsPlusNotes writers' personal collections, is the exclusive
property of the NewsPlusNotes team and may not be used, reproduced,
or distributed in any manner without the express written consent
of the individual author/creator. Read our complete
Terms of Use.

NewsPlusNotes Terms of Use

NewsPlusNotes is not affiliated with nor do we purport to represent
the views, interests, intentions, or policies of any park, corporation,
or entity. The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the
individual writers. While we strive to achieve 100% accuracy in our
news reporting, errors inevitably will occur from time to time and we
make no guarantees that the facts presented in any given post will
remain unchanged over time. For complete, up-to-the-minute information
on any park, please visit that park's web site or contact the park directly.

All original content found on NewsPlusNotes, including but not limited to
all original written content, the NewsPlusNotes logo and all other static
graphic and web design elements comprising the site, and all photos from
NewsPlusNotes writers' personal collections, is the exclusive property of
the NewsPlusNotes team and may not be used, reproduced, or distributed in
any manner without the express written consent of the individual author/creator.

All non-original content found on NewsPlusNotes, including but not limited
to park logos, press releases, and photo contributions received from parks,
corporations, and individual readers, remains the property of the original
author/creator and may be subject to additional copyright, trademark, and/or
intellectual property protection. The lack of an explicit copyright notice
does not imply ownership by NewsPlusNotes or any of its writers unless the
content in question has been produced by one of our team members as described
in the paragraph above. NewsPlusNotes occasionally features guest writers,
and these individuals retain ownership of all original written and/or graphic
content that they publish on NewsPlusNotes. By contributing written or graphic
material to NewsPlusNotes, you are implying that you are the owner of this
material or are submitting it with the express consent of the owner. If you
feel that we've made an error or omission in attributing proper credit to a
particular piece of content found on NewsPlusNotes, please contact us and we
will gladly investigate the matter and make any necessary corrections.